Stealing Cinderella
by SuperGravyMan
Summary: Sometimes you need a little nudge in the right direction, and your parents are right there to help.


Stealing Cinderella

** Well, hello again! My last story got such a great response from people saying they loved that format and didn't see it nearly enough that I decided to do one kinda like it this time. This one is from a different perspective though, that of Mitchie's dad, Steve Torres. The title comes from one of my favorite songs by Chuck Wicks. Also, I'm hoping to be able to work out a Christmas story in the next week, you know, sometime around Christmas, and after that, I should hopefully finally get around to adding another chapter to my story Freedom Feels Like Lonely like I've been planning to do for far too long, though it may also get a name change. You can find lots of random information, some of it relating to this, at my twitter, where I go by the same name I do here. In the meantime, enjoy this one!**

** Disclaimer: Saying I own this is like saying no one ships ALEXa. It's just not true.**

Steve Torres and his ex-wife Connie had always been good friends. For a while they had tried to make it as a couple, and while they always had a great time, being married just wasn't for them. They were divorced just before the birth of their daughter, Mitchie, though he swore he would always be a part of her life for as long as he was able.

The first time he heard about Mitchie's new best friend was when his daughter visited for her tenth birthday. While they killed time until her party at his parents' house down the road, he asked her what she'd been doing with her friends. She excitedly explained to him how this Alex girl had come over to play, but it had been raining, so they'd built a mini-golf course in her bedroom. They'd used badminton rackets to hit actual golf balls around obstacles made of random things from the room, and it had really gotten challenging when they tried to lift the balls over bed to the hole. That was when one had bounced off the wall, and Connie had made them play a different game.

Mitchie looked slightly down as she finished that story, but he chuckled in surprise as her face lit up again and she launched into a completely different story about how she and Alex had spent a whole afternoon making up dances and learning songs before getting Connie to tape them performing their little show. Apparently she'd even gotten a little too into her act and whacked herself in the face once, but they all laughed about it afterward. And now he could too, she told him, as her smile ate her face and she handed him a copy of the tape.

By that time it had been almost time for the party, so they'd had to leave, but after she left, he popped in the tape and sat back to watch his daughter and this new girl she was so fascinated with. They danced simultaneously to the catchiest songs of the day, including an encore of their 'Hamster Dance' routine from the school Christmas pageant (he hadn't noticed this Alex there apparently) that managed to get the darn thing stuck in his head again. Steve couldn't help but smile to himself that his daughter had finally found someone she so loved having fun with.

Three years later found Mitchie visiting during the summer. She was all set to watch the latest superhero movie, The Green Swoosh, with Steve and his new wife, Sandy. Mitchie had her own seat on the chair opposite the couch, with her own separate bowl of popcorn, since she'd insisted on showing him the special recipe she and Alex always made when they watched movies. It had all sorts of random stuff in it, from seasoned salt to lots of melted butter, and even a little hot sauce. She claimed you had to watch how much you put in so it didn't all get soggy and disgusting, and it certainly didn't make it sound terribly appetizing to him, so she'd gotten the whole thing to herself.

Letting her sit alone seemed to be a good decision about halfway through the movie, as she'd been distracted by her the phone she'd just gotten buzzing every few minutes, though it had been put on silent after Sandy gave her a stern look.

"Sorry," she'd muttered sheepishly, "Alex and her family are watching it too." She turned back to the movie, determined to be quieter. Inevitably though, the next time the Swoosh ran into something while trying to fly, he heard his daughter mutter "That's gonna leave a super-bruise!" as she typed it into the device.

Mitchie finally set the thing down when she went to the bathroom, and while she was gone, his wife turned to him. "We should really think about taking that thing from her for a while, Steve," she suggested, "she's already getting overly attached to it."

"I don't think it's the phone she's attached to," he chuckled, "she's just having fun with her best friend hon, I think we have to let her be a teenager this time." She stared at him for a moment before sighing and acquiescing. Mitchie was never far from her phone throughout the rest of her weekend visit.

A couple of years after that, Steve finally got the chance to meet the famed Alex Russo when she came over with his daughter around Christmas time. This particular morning he had taken them with him on his own visiting trip, going to see some of his friends. Since there was no snow, the group had settled outside as he talked with his friend Dave.

He could see Mitchie pointing at something across the yard, and when he looked over, it was found to be the large toy monster truck that Dave's young son had gotten for the holiday, one of the type the young boy could drive himself around in. It was definitely impressive, and he could see why it had gotten pointed out.

Or at least he had thought he could see why, he mused as he watched Mitchie take off running towards the thing. With the way she kept low to the ground, it appeared she was planning on trying to jump the thing, if such a feat could even be accomplished. Unfortunately, her doubts appeared to surface at around the same time, as she put her feet down and attempted to stop. The grass, being extremely slippery from the recently melted snow, disagreed, and Mitchie went sliding legs first into the vehicle's undercarriage.

When she limped up, holding her left shin, he moved to see what damage had been done, but Alex was quicker. His daughter's best friend raced over to her, barely managing to stop herself before bending to examine the leg, then rushing over to Dave to inquire as to the whereabouts of his Band-Aids, and finally streaking into the house to fetch one. Meanwhile, Steve made his way over to Mitchie.

"Ooh, that one looks pretty bad." He commented on getting a look at the leg. "You gonna be alright? We don't need to take you to the hospital?"

Mitchie grimaced, she never had liked hospitals. "I think I'll be alright. Alex has already decided she's taking care of me." Her grimace had turned into a smile by the end of her sentence.

As he nodded and moved away to let Alex have room to work with the first aid kit she'd brought back, Steve's thoughts turned to how different this was from what he'd heard of the last time Mitchie had gotten hurt around Alex.

His daughter had told him that the both of them were playing catch with the foam football he'd gotten her. She was standing at the bottom of the staircase at her mother's house, while Alex was up on top. The game had since been banned when they'd destroyed the light bulb that lit the stairway, but that had been after this event.

Mitchie had missed the ball, and it bounced around the corner into the hallway. When she found it, the thing was stuck behind the cages housing their pet chinchilla, Bruce. She moved the cage as best as she could quickly, not wanting to keep Alex waiting, and squeezed through, reaching for it. Right about when she laid her hand on the ball was when Bruce decided to bite her right in the thigh. She'd told him Alex laughed at that story for the rest of the time she was there, and still did whenever it was brought up. This time though, it seemed she couldn't be in a bigger hurry to take care of Mitchie, and it was then that he started to notice something beginning to change between the pair.

He didn't see the girls much for the next year, since he ran into some medical trouble at work, but around the time of Mitchie's 17th birthday his brother Jim was getting a whole group together to go see a monster truck show nearby. It seemed the perfect opportunity for an awesome present, and so he picked up three tickets. His wife wouldn't be interested, but he was pretty well certain Mitchie would want her best friend along for her birthday.

Steve would've won that bet, had there been any reasonable bookie who'd take a bet on whether or not his daughter would wish to hang out with her best friend, and so when the time came, the group set off for the event, where they even had floor passes to get in early and meet all the drivers.

Eventually they found their seats and got their snacks, you had to have snacks, he'd said, and the giant trucks began to race each other around the track in the less exciting portion of the show. There were a few jumps to the course, but you could also hear lots of talking, as it was clear this wasn't the part people had come to see.

When you're bored, you search for something to do, and for Alex, that seemed to be tearing through the plate of nachos she'd gotten. She had them finished in a flash, then began to realize how extremely salty they'd been. Unfortunately, she'd also already sucked down her drink. As she looked around in a dry-throated panic, Steve found that the nearest drink was his, though he warned her "You won't want that." Alex had already grabbed it out of his hand and had the glass nearly tipped to her mouth when she smelled it and slowly lowered the glass.

She looked to him. "This is beer, isn't it?" He nodded, and she sheepishly handed it back. After that, she refused to have anything to do with his drink, no matter how thirsty she was. Luckily for her, it wasn't long until Mitchie returned, carrying a large Sprite he presumed she'd purchased with the money he gave her for her own fun on the trip.

He felt badly, letting his daughter spend her fun money taking care of her friend, but she refused all of his attempts to give her the money back for it. The money had seemed to go to a good cause though, as both girls were clearly having fun after Alex recovered, and soon enough they were enjoying the part they'd all come to see, watching stuff get destroyed.

After the show came the less exciting, but still interesting, autograph session with all the drivers. They stood in line for a couple of hours waiting to get up to the table with their programs, but nobody complained overly much, and soon enough they were out the door into the cool night air.

Seeing as he was driving, and it was so late, Steve didn't get much opportunity to pay attention to anything other than the road. He did take a moment to check on the girls through his mirror around the halfway point of their journey though, and he found Alex asleep on his daughter's shoulder, Mitchie with her arm around the other girl, keeping her seat belt out of the way. She looked up and met his eyes, smiling and making a shh-ing noise, so he smiled back and returned his gaze to the road.

The next time Steve saw his daughter and her best friend was at his sister's wedding reception nearly a year later. He wasn't much for dancing, but as the night went on the girls certainly seemed to be having fun together. It was then, as he watched them party, that the plan came to his head.

He snuck away to the DJ during one of the big dance routines that everybody knew. Switching up the next song didn't even cost him anything, and then he moved back to his original seat to watch it all unfold.

Lots of people left the floor after the big dance was done, but not his girls. They turned to each other when the slightly slower song started, just like he'd expected. Mitchie and Alex were swaying right along with all the rest until the lyrics started. As soon as they heard how "lucky" the singer was to be in love with his best friend, both of them froze. The song went on without them, and no one else on the dance floor seemed to notice. Looking around quickly, he grabbed one of the bells off the table. They'd been used earlier to signal the bride and groom to kiss, he figured the cover would still work as he rang it and shouted "Kiss her!" in their general direction.

Mitchie, who was closer to facing him, stared incredulously at him for a moment before Alex captured her lips. Everyone else cheered as the bride and groom did the same, all of them caught up in the spirit of the event. None of them even seemed to notice that there was another relationship beginning on that same dance floor that night, no one but two girls who couldn't be more caught up in each other, and a father who couldn't have been happier for his little girl, even if she admittedly wasn't so little anymore.

**I've always believed reviews make great Christmas presents, what do you think? I hope to see you all again soon! -SGM-**


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